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The People’s President!

Our Oli government seems to be in the news for all the wrong reasons every week and, instead of apologising for their nataks, those in power blame the people for making a big issue out of stuff like wasting millions of Rupees on vehicles for VVIPs. It seems that this government is hell bent on misusing power and wasting state funds for their own personal benefit.

The joke of the week is that our government wants to relocate the Nepal Police Academy to Panauti from Maharajgunj because our President needs a bigger space. Yes, build a 1,000 room palace for our President so that whoever gets to be our commander-in-chief can live like one of our Shree Teen uncles.

We had heard stories about the Rana clan enjoying the good life then but now, we can finally get to see our thulo mancheys wasting our state funds to live a life that would make then Rana uncles and the House of Shah look like middle-class folks. I guess, this is the reason why we became a republic where ripping off the public is the sole objective of those in power. And instead of making sure that the people come first, our successive governments have done more for the pickpockets instead.

Our Minister of Miscommunication Mr Go Cool Bans Quota tells us that we should not drag the office of the President into controversy and those who are against the expansion natak are against democracy as well. Even Baghdad Bob should be rolling from his grave today. We are lucky to have such mantris who are not ashamed to tell us that the government is wasting billions of Rupees of taxpayers’ money on chiya kharcha and vehicles and other perks for our chors.

I think we need to ask our Professors from the Department of English at TU to teach a class or two to our thulo mancheys so that they know the meanings of English words. Dear Minister, we are not against Democracy. We, the people, have voted to send folks like you to the Parliament in hopes that you and your fellow lawmakers will do good for the people and the country. We have been fooled again and again but we still hope that our politicians will change and finally work for the people. But we have been fooled even this time around as well.

Why does our President need to live like one of those dictators in a totalitarian regime when most of us barely make enough to provide for our families? Our government tells us that the current space is not enough to even house 175 security personnel deployed for our Madame President. I guess our government wants to provide a single room each for the security personnel at the President’s House while it doesn’t care about thousands of our soldiers in the Nepal Army and those in Nepal Police who have to live in bunkers and run down sheds across the country.

Why is our IGP Saheb silent when it matters the most? Our government had approved of the relocation of Police Academy a few months ago but the decision was made public only recently. IGP Khanal should save his organisation from being a mere private security company for our chors.

Why is our opposition wallahs silent on this one? Are they also being offered commissions when the government wastes Rs eight billion grant provided by our Desi brothers? Yes, it’s all about the money. Just ask the Mayor of Kathmandu. If he was allowed to do according to his wishes, the man would tear down our temples and build coffee shops instead and rent it out to byaparis!

Our police wallahs both in service and retired ones should take to the streets to protest against the government’s decision to relocate the Police Academy. And then will Nepal Police send their own folks to beat up the protestors?

Nepal Army and the Armed Police Force (APF) get whatever they want from the government, be it helicopters, arms and other stuff. But why is Nepal Police treated like an outsider when it is the only security organisation that deals with the public day in and day out? Why is our government hell bent on destroying the professionalism of Nepal Police? Political interference is rising while the morale of the police force is sinking every day.

Our government tells us that our President needs Rs 180 million to buy new vehicles. Why not spend more and buy a helicopter instead so that our President can help us all by not creating traffic jams in the city. Just build helipads on rooftops of our government buildings all over the country?

And our vice-president’s office will be shifted to the place where the Social Welfare Council calls home. What’s next? Shift the Prime Minister’s residence from Baluwatar to Tundikhel so that whoever is in charge of running this country can enjoy the open space while we, the people, will have nowhere to go when the next Big One hits our country.

Our politicians and civil servants have not learned a thing from the earthquakes of 2015. Thousands of government buildings are yet to be repaired or rebuilt. Our government can’t even build the walls surrounding our government offices and yet it talks about making this county great.

Dear Madame President, please speak up now or else it will be too late. You do not need dozen vehicles to ride around the city. You do not really need a helicopter or a helipad or other freebies at the expense of us, the taxpayers. Stop the looting of our national coffer to provide for our thulo mancheys.

Guffadi is a grumpy old man who blogs at guffadi.blogspot.com. You may contact him at maguffadi@gmail.com

About Us

Established in February 1993, the Kathmandu Post, Nepal’s first privately owned English broadsheet daily, is today Nepal’s leading English language newspaper, with a daily circulation of 82,000 copies. This makes the Post Nepal’s second-most widely circulated newspaper—after Kantipur daily. The Kathmandu Post is also a member of Asia News Network that has over 15 members and is known for its insightful, unbiased journalistic work of the highest calibre. Read more»